Adult Cells Do It Better: Venture capital says adult, not embryo, stem cells are the cure
Gottlieb, Scott
Adult Cells Do It Better Venture capital says adult, not A 11 systems were go for federally funded embryo stem-cell research at the National Institutes of Health. New guidelines bequeathed by...
...Aastrom Biosciences, another early-stage company that banks and develops adult stem cells, received two venture financing totaling $1 1.8 d o n . Others funded last year include Neuralstem Biopharmaceuticals, NeuroNova AB, Layton Biosciences, closely held MorphoGen Pharmaceuticals, and Stemcells Inc., whch uses adult stem cells for a variety of applications...
...Muslims voted two to one for George H.W...
...Or should they be Why...
...That way, if a company missteps on one application, it can still make money in other areas...
...Muslim immigrants don't walk across the border pendess-they fly into airports, largely to attend American universities...
...George W Bush got them back only through a vigorous outreach campaign...
...Just one out of six is of Arab descent...
...Fully a quarWith a median family income of $69,000, Muslim immigrants don't walk across the border, they fly, largely to attend American universities...
...return will be," says Dr...
...Sixty-one percent of Muslims, for example, would ban abortion except to save the life of the mother...
...BresaGen, which works with both embryonic and "And this is Katherine Lacy...
...Viacell, Inc., a new privately held company that banks and uses adult stem cells derived fiom umbilical cord blood for the treatment of cancer and certain genetic diseases, raised $48 million in VC money...
...The margin of victory for Bush over Gore in the Muslim vote was 46,200, many times greater than hs statewide margin of victory...
...The Muslim community is thus not an ethnic bloc, but a faith-based, naturally conservative community...
...cues is ideal since doctors want to be able The ethical questions are certainly to tightly control results...
...Of these, fewer than half are involved primarily in developing treatments from stem cells...
...The hror over stem-cell research is not over their usefulness, but their source: Should researchers use aborted or dlscarded human embryos...
...That's right, the M u s h vote...
...Stem cells are the primordal goop of the human body, human cells that have not yet been differentiated into, say bone, blood, or embryo, stem cells are the cure brain cells...
...Muslim groups, Bush won more than 70 percent of M u s h who voted...
...In Florida, that totaled 55,000 people, who, accordmg to an exit poll by the Tampa Bay Islamic Center, favored Bush over Gore by 20 to 1. Accordmg to ths exit poll, Bush got 88 percent of the vote to Gore's four percent, with eight percent voting for Nadar...
...Muslims come fiom Palustan, India, Iran, Afiica, and the Middle East, plus American converts...
...The universe of established companies doing stem-cell research encompasses about 30 public and private biotechnology firms...
...The proof, for now at least, is in the investment pudding...
...The what...
...Osiris Therapeutics, for example, has programs exploring the use of adult stem cells in everything from regenerating cardiac muscle to growing new bone, cartilage, and ble but also what the eventual total bone marrow...
...And only two of those 15 "pure play" companies (Geron Corporation and BresaGen) do significant work with embryonic cells...
...New guidelines bequeathed by the Clinton adrmnistration for shrting a congressional ban were in place...
...Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson wanted a chance to review the new guidelines...
...If there's a major ethical adult stem-cell companies have attracted problem with embryonic stem cells, we more Wall Street financing, "It's as much will probably see the return on these vento do with what's immediately applica- tures to be much lower...
...immune systems of patients with cancer and to treat blood cancers such as leukemia...
...It's unfortunate," said a member of the NIH stem-cell review committee, who spoke to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity "It certainly is holding up research that could potentially affect a lot of people with a number of different diseases...
...Abolishing the death tax is a major issue...
...Some NIH researchers were aghast...
...Moreover, embryo cells can be a bit too flexible, differentiating into all hnds of tissue, both desirable and not...
...Muslims are Republican by economics as well, with a median annual famdy income of more than $69,000...
...Injected adult stem cells are better behaved, growing into other tissues only after the application of appropriate growth factors or The ethical questions are certainly riveting but may be swiftly trumped by venture investors who see adult stem cells as "much closer to therapeutic applications...
...A meeting to review the first applications for grants was set for mid-April, when NIH's acting director Ruth Kirschstein suddenly received the word from on high: cancel the meeting...
...riveting, but they may be swiftly trumped Adult stem cells have already been by the market, specifically the venture used for more than 20 years as bone-marinvestment market, whch is voting with row transplants to reconstitute the its dollars for adult stem-cell research...
...THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR . June 2001 adult stem cells, received more than $15 million from investors last year...
...Bush in 1992, then in 1996 went two to one for Clinton...
...Capable of differentiating into the full spectrum of other cell types-from a new liver cell to a new neuron-they could be ideal for repairing or replacing diseased organs...
...For medical researchers, stem cells represent a mother lode of possible new treatments for diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and more...
...a "Natural Conservatives" Muslims deliver for the GOP BY GROVER NORQUIST eorge W Bush was elected President of the United States ofAmerica because of the Muslim vote...
...restricted to adult stem-cells, found in fat, other external cues.This need for external bone, and the brain...
...U.S...
...The Muslun vote won Florida for Bush...
...Hard data on their voting habits is surprisingly hard to come by, because national polling groups do not yet include "Muslim" as a full-fledged religious category (Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and "other...
...In addition to speed, venture capitalists look for a "technology platform" broad enough to support multiple indications for the same product...
...of the 3 million Arabter are self-employed small businessmenmore than twice the national average...
...Using the body's own stem cells means the immune system's rejection reflex will not be aroused...
...What's all the fuss about...
...Given the long lead times necessary to gain approval for new medical technologies, if a company can't get significant results in four to six years, it's generally beyond the scope of a venture capitalist's interest...
...There are roughly six d o n Muslim-Americans...
...Geron, publicly held and widely viewed as the leadng embryonic stemcell company, attracted $50 d o n in investment over the past year...
...Osiris Therapeutics Inc., a bellwether company in adult stem-cell research, raised $16.5 million from private investors...
...When injected under the slun of certain mice, for example, they grow into teratomas, tumors consisting of numerous tissue types, from gut to shn to teeth...
...Muslims around the globe noticed, 18 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR . June 2001...
...But according to surveys by national Americans, two-thirds are Christian...
...Frank Young, forFinally, venture investors must also mer commissioner of the Food and Drug consider the political environment...
...The VC community is typically more adept at judging new technologies than government bureaucrats, even well-intentioned ones with Ph.D.s...
...If Administration...
...embryonic cells still have a variety of obstacles that need to be overcome," says Kevin FitzGerald, an assistant professor of medlcine at Loyola University Medical Center who conducts research on gene regulation in leukemia...
...By contrast, 13 companies working with adult stem cells attracted over $100 million...
...When two similar technologies exist, this kind of uneven investment flow is usually a proxy for scientific promise and imminent commercial potential Adult cells are far closer to commercial application, which is crucial to venture investors...
...While the embryonic cells are rumored to have broad potential, so far only adult stem cells have demonstrated wide uses...
...Socially and economically conservative in their attitudes, American Muslims look like members of the Christian Coahtion or religiously active Catholics, who continue shifting to the Republican Party-55 percent of mass-attending Catholics went for Bush in 2000...
...84 percent support school choice...
...Katherine is my go-to guy...
...But the Muslim vote is more in play...
...If you look at some of the medical and scientific indcations, adult stem cells are much closer-to therapeutic applications...
Vol. 34 • June 2001 • No. 5
